Northern Ireland unemployment rate falls back to pre-pandemic level

The unemployment rate in Northern Ireland returned to its pre-pandemic level at the start of this year, official figures suggest.

The rate was 2.4% in the November to January quarter, matching the rate during the same quarter in 2020.

During the pandemic, the rate peaked at 4.5% in the summer of 2021.

Other official data also suggests the jobs market had a positive start to the year despite underlying economic weakness.

The economy inactivity rate saw a statistically significant fall over the year, declining by 2.5 percentage points to 26.4%.

Someone is classed as economically inactive if they are not in work and not looking for work.

That includes people who are retired, in full time education, sick or disabled and those with caring responsibilities.

The rate is now at its lowest since the start of the pandemic, when it stood at 25.9%.

However Northern Ireland still has the highest rate of inactivity of any UK region; the average UK rate is 21.3%.

Tomorrow's UK budget is expected to contain measures aimed at encouraging some economically inactive people to find jobs.

Meanwhile the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) suggested there was a record number of employee jobs in December 2022.

The QES surveys about 6,000 companies, covering all employers with 25 or more employees and all public sector employers.

It found the number of employee jobs increased over the year by 3.5%, or 27,050 jobs, to 810,210.

Increases were seen across services, construction, manufacturing and the public sector.

HMRC data on wages suggests pay rises in Northern Ireland are still running well below the rate of inflation.

The typical worker was paid £2,047 in February, an increase of 7% from February 2022; in January the UK's main rate of inflation was 10.1%.